OK, we're calling it: this is the year of the sound bar, those long, slender speaker boxes that you see freakin' everywhere. (Today alone we mentioned three companies introducing a total of six new models!) When our very own Brian Lam was at CES this past January, he heard the editor-in-chief of a top home…

Just like HP said no to its plus-size DLPs this morning, Soundmatters too is cracking down on its overly plump speakers. Their latest model, the ultra-thin SLIMstage, is just 3.4 inches thin (skinnier than some flat panels) yet it's still capable of belting out "convincing" stereo and 5.1 signals. The 210-watt…